The biggest event of the beginning of this summer in Europe is definitely UEFA Euro Championships. Each match played by a national team gathers millions of people both from the countries interested and the host countries. It’s a kind of event that is talked of since the hosts are announced, that is about 4 years ago. Thus, there were huge expectations, plenty of time for preparations and now waiting for the final outcome. How is e-commerce managing during Euro 2012? Does it have any impact at all?
Barometer of e-commerce opinions
In general, business, especially Polish and Ukrainian, was expecting euro2012 with a very positive attitude. The restaurants, pubs, TV stations and also e-commerce businesses were all trying to adjust their offer to the upcoming football festival. The e-shop Neo24.pl four months ago was already expecting their turnover to increase by 10% in general and by 20-30% on the TV sets and projectors sales alone. However, according to newspaper Wyborcza more than 60% of e-commerce companies weren’t thinking of a boom in sales in the context of UEFA championships. This interesting prognosis by e-shop owners may be connected to the fact that the same gadgets with UEFA’s logo are being sold on every corner. But were they right?
How to profit of Euro2012 not being European
Although it is an Asian country, China is actively taking part in UEFA Euro 2012. Or, I should probably say, their e-commerce market is. Chinese online vendor Taobao.com has recently revealed the China Daily magazine their involvement by admitting to be watching each match. The e-shop has to offer a variety of fan’s attributes and thus is actively watching each game in order to control the proper amount of the playing countries’ gadgets they have in stock. That’s a clever move by a retailer from another continent, but that’s nothing strange considering that the e-shop claims to have recorded more than 54,000 of searches for the Euro 2012 search.
As seen, it is possible to come out successful of each huge event even though the business is not localized in the centre of it.
Image source: flickr.com
Gamble with your stock
Being successful during such events means to be a kind of good gambler. Of course, the design should be well adjusted to the occasion and an e-shop should be easy to navigate. But, there are things one should especially add to assure the sale’s increase. Firstly, let’s remember that the fans are mobile, they travel from one match to the other, and thus a well-working mobile version is invaluable. Secondly, let’s take example from Taobao.com and involve in the event we’re trying to make money on. We should be flexible in our advertising by promoting the products connected to the teams being on top right now and adding discounts on the products which we know won’t sale due to the poor performance of a given team.
Enter into the spirit of the fans
The interaction is the key to success. Only if an e-retailer is fully involved in the event their business may profit. Thereby, one should carefully observe the course of action, in this case the teams that win and those that fail. We can’t also forget about the right performance, since after the win a webshop can expect a plenitude of enthusiastic clients and while there’s a loss of a particular nation the sales and visit will definitely drop.
Image source: flickr.com
Handling such huge event for your business means simply being extremely observant and able to adjust to constantly changing situation. Consider an upgrade to your mobile possibilities and a cloud solution to keep your performance right at any traffic and control your stock reasonably by being interested in the event you’re trying to use commercially.
What were your ideas for UEFA Euro 2012? Have you implemented any specials? Did it all work out as expected? What’s your experience with huge events? Feel free to share below!
